The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam

by Max Boot

LANSDALE’S REPORT began, “1961 promises to be a fateful year for Vietnam. The Communist Viet Cong hope to win back Vietnam south of the 17th Parallel this year, if at all possible, and are much further along towards accomplishing this objective than I had realized from reading the reports received in Washington.” He found that the “Viet Cong have the initiative and most of the control over the region from the jungled foothills of the High Plateau north of Saigon all the way south down to the Gulf of Siam, excluding the big city area of Saigon–Cholon.” If “Free Vietnam” falls, he warned, “the remainder of Southeast Asia will be easy pickings for our enemy, because the toughest local force on our side will be gone.” Lansdale argued, as he had done since 1954, that the key to saving South Vietnam lay in backing Ngo Dinh Diem, “still the only Vietnamese with executive ability and the required determination to be an effective President.” Rather than replace Diem, he continued, it was time to replace the U.S. ambassador, Elbridge Durbrow: “Correctly or not, the recognized government of Vietnam does not look upon him as a friend, believing that he sympathized strongly with the coup leaders of 11 November [1960].” In place of Durbrow, Lansdale recommended the appointment of an ambassador “with marked leadership talents who can make the Country Team function harmoniously and spiritually, who can influence Asians through understanding them sympathetically, and who is alert to the po...